Wei Chiting, having been lectured by Xia Hunan, deeply agreed with him. Thinking too much wasn't always a good thing. However, since Wei Chiting and his group had already decided to forfeit this match, it didn't matter how much they thought about it.
But Guo Shuang'er needed some explanation. Calling her over for a match only to send her back without her doing anything felt rather impolite.
Xia Hunan pondered, "How about this, we can't let you, Guo Shuang'er, come here for nothing. Wei Chiting, you team up with me, and Guo Shuang'er with Li Qiufeng. Let's have a two-on-two match."
Thus, a battle commenced under Tong Ruo's arbitration: Xia Hunan and Wei Chiting against Guo Shuang'er and Li Qiufeng.
Xia Hunan and Wei Chiting sent out Froakie and Gastly respectively, to face Snorlax and Feraligatr.
Xia Hunan looked at Gastly, "Wei Chiting, you can handle Feraligatr, right?"
"Coach Xia, don't worry. While I can't guarantee victory, I can definitely stall him."
While Xia Hunan and his companion discussed their strategy, Li Qiufeng and Guo Shuang'er had formulated the same plan. As soon as the battle began, Li Qiufeng commanded Feraligatr to engage Gastly. All four knew that the situation of Xia Hunan against Li Qiufeng and Wei Chiting against Guo Shuang'er must be avoided. Betting on whose teammate would be dealt with first was clearly an unwise choice.
Xia Hunan directed Froakie to attack aggressively, starting with Double Team and charging straight towards Snorlax. Guo Shuang'er was momentarily dazed by the afterimages, and then saw Froakie already in front of Snorlax.
"Froakie, use Bubble Beam on him!"
Everyone was startled. What kind of variant move was this?
Froakie conjured two water orbs, then swiped them across the foam around its neck. The orbs instantly turned white. Froakie hurled these two orbs, smearing them directly onto Snorlax.
"Snorlax, use Metronome!"
Watching Snorlax charge towards Froakie with its short legs, Xia Hunan quickly told Froakie to dodge.
It was a joke; although Snorlax wasn't fast, it weighed over a hundred kilograms. It wasn't easy for Froakie to block it with Water Shield.
On the other hand, Feraligatr's moves were ineffective against Gastly because Gastly was slightly faster. Although Bite was super effective, Feraligatr could never land a hit on Gastly.
"Gastly, use Shadow Ball!"
...
The two sides exchanged blows for several rounds, but without any substantial effect. Xia Hunan pointed his Pokedex at Gastly, then smiled, "I have an idea."
"Froakie, create distance from Snorlax and move behind Gastly."
Seeing Froakie and Gastly standing together, Guo Shuang'er was confused. What were they planning? To increase the power of Metronome?
Following this, Xia Hunan looked at Wei Chiting. Wei Chiting reacted slightly and then nodded, "I understand."
"Froakie, use Water Pulse!"
"Gastly, prepare Energy Ball!"
Froakie directly used Water Shield to spin Gastly and launched it towards Feraligatr. As Gastly was launched, it quickly condensed a green Energy Ball.
The Energy Ball hit Feraligatr directly in the face, a critical hit with super effective damage. After having its HP slightly chipped by Gastly, Feraligatr was immediately defeated by this Energy Ball.
With Feraligatr down, the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt. Xia Hunan and his partner emerged victorious. After a brief chat with everyone, Xia Hunan approached Tong Ruo, "Sister Ruo, I have a new idea. What do you think if I do this..."
Listening to Xia Hunan's idea, Tong Ruo agreed, "That's a good idea. Let the first-year students connect with the team and simulate the various lineups they might encounter in major competitions by constantly switching tactical configurations. That's a good idea. However, we'll need to discuss it in a meeting."
...
In the afternoon, Xia Hunan and the school team members arrived at the battle arena. Looking at the students present, Xia Hunan chuckled, "Hey, Feng Bing, you little punk, it's you again in the lead. Every time I come up with something, you're the one I have to go up against."
Feng Bing was also embarrassed. His class always seemed to be the guinea pigs. Bluntly put, he was definitely going to be a guinea pig. How could Xia Hunan let him off the hook?
As expected, Xia Hunan directly singled out him and Wang Hu, "You two, each choose a member of the school team for a two-on-two battle. Understand?"
After arranging this match, Xia Hunan went to rest aside, watching the battle with Tong Ruo and Principal Zheng.
"Sister Xiaoxiao, who do you think will win?"
Zheng Xiaoxiao shook her head, "I'm not very familiar with the first-year students. However, purely from the school team's perspective, I'm more optimistic about Tu Zhuanghai."
The battle ended quickly. Just as Tong Ruo had said, Tu Zhuanghai and Feng Bing achieved a complete victory. Xia Hunan stood up and summarized the previous battle, "This battle was quite hopeless. Tu Zhuanghai's Blastoise completely countered your two Pokémon. But I have a question for you, Wang Hu. If your second Pokémon wasn't well-trained and wouldn't be much use, forcing you to only use Incineroar, then what about you, Tan Yue? Don't tell me you don't have a second Pokémon. You should have known he'd definitely bring out Blastoise against you!"
Tan Yue stammered, "Well, my second Pokémon is Aggron..."
Xia Hunan slapped his forehead, "Oh, this is a disaster. Both your Pokémon have no way to deal with Water-types, do they? Let me see your Aggron first."
Tan Yue obediently released Aggron. Xia Hunan used the system to check the data of Aggron and Onix, then said to Tan Yue, "Honestly, if you had sent out Aggron earlier, I really think it might have performed better than Onix. Don't you know your Onix's resistance to Water-types? Think about it. We're changing players now."
A new pair of participants began their two-on-two battle. Xia Hunan returned to his seat, "Sister Ruo, what do you think this time?"
...
Such practice battles continued for a full class period, with various combinations yielding mixed results. Among the school team members, Wei Chiting had the highest win rate. Although the overall strength of his Pokémon wasn't much greater than that of the other students, his excellent commanding ability allowed him to achieve synergistic effects of "one plus one is greater than two" when cooperating with the first-year students. As for the first-year students, the highest win rate surprisingly belonged to Chu Xiaodie. Her butterfly team was becoming increasingly outrageous. Throughout the class, Pokémon like Butterfree, Beautifly, and Vivillon all made appearances, making Xia Hunan rub his eyes frequently.
As class was about to end, Xia Hunan rubbed his eyes, "Sister Ruo, doesn't your eyes hurt? Chu Xiaodie's flamboyant contest-style battling is too much for the eyes."
Tong Ruo appeared unfazed, "You haven't seen enough. You'll get used to it once you see more."
Xia Hunan didn't believe her and asked Zheng Xiaoxiao, "Sister Xiaoxiao, is Sister Ruo telling the truth?"
Zheng Xiaoxiao nodded gracefully, "Of course. The more you experience, the more you can handle anything. Go tell Chu Xiaodie to stay behind; everyone else can leave now."
Xia Hunan, following Zheng Xiaoxiao's command, instructed everyone to return to their dorms after class, and asked Chu Xiaodie to stay behind, "Chu Xiaodie, wait a moment, something's needed of you."
After the students from Class 5 had left, Zheng Xiaoxiao and Tong Ruo stepped forward to Chu Xiaodie, "Chu Xiaodie, would you like to join the school team?"
Tong Ruo's words surprised everyone present, "Join the school team? But Chu Xiaodie is only a freshman."
Tong Ruo glared at them, "What does being a freshman matter? If your coach Xia really calculates it, he's only in the second semester of his second year, and he's already your coach, right? Besides, she won't be directly playing; she'll just be a reserve."
Lu Bingming quickly accepted Chu Xiaodie joining the school team, though he grumbled, "She's half a year ahead of me. I was only in my first semester of my second year when I passed the assessment and entered the school team roster. You're joining as a freshman, I'm so envious."
Xia Hunan looked at Lu Bingming with a playful smile, "Are you sure it's envy? You joined the school team in your first semester of sophomore year and became a starter the next semester. While Xiaodie might be joining the school team now, she won't be a starter. There's a decisive gap between you two."
Chu Xiaodie took a moment to recover from the explosive news from Tong Ruo, then looked at Xia Hunan, "Assistant Coach Xia, can I really do it?"
Xia Hunan looked into Chu Xiaodie's eyes, "Xiaodie, I know you focus more on the contest aspect, but experience in school team battles isn't useless for contests. After all, observing battles from other schools up close can provide inspiration to a considerable extent."
After hearing Xia Hunan's words, Chu Xiaodie glanced at Zheng Xiaoxiao and Tong Ruo, who were looking at her with anticipation. Chu Xiaodie finally made up her mind, "Yes, I'll join the school team."
As Chu Xiaodie joined the school team, the second class period of the afternoon began. This class was for Class 7 of the first-year students. Xia Hunan's plan remained the same: the school team members would pair up with the first-year students for battles. However, due to her new role in the school team, Chu Xiaodie did not participate in the training. Instead, she listened to Zheng Xiaoxiao and Tong Ruo explain the situation on the field.
This scene caused envy and jealousy among the school team members. Lu Bingming gritted his teeth even more, "I never had this kind of treatment."
Wei Chiting, standing beside him, kicked him, "Focus on watching the battle. Chu Xiaodie is a cute girl. Maybe if you turned into a girl, you could also receive close guidance from the principal and Teacher Tong."
Lu Bingming felt a chill run down his spine, "Never mind, I think this is fine."